Todd Rundgren A Wizard a True Star SACD

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

quadanasaziland

500 Club - QQ All-Star
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Messages
579
Location
never never land
One of my favorite works of all time!
That being said I was disappointed by the sacd! This mix by Todd on side one on either the lp or cd has always been a bit fatiguing with what always seemed to be lite on the bass and heavy on the upper mid range and lower to mid highs. There is so much looping going on that can really crowd the mix. but I always felt that better eq'ing could have helped the sound but alas it sounds as if there was no attempt by Todd to fix it. Now I found the fatiguing aspects to be even more fatiguing in high rez. The lp's I own did not seem to hurt my brain so much as this sacd but to refresh my memory I will revisit the vinyl this weekend on my new old Denon DP-120 with My Shure V-15 III all dialed in. There should have been a bit of remastering done here Todd!
 
That is because it was done by TR who is a whiny baby man. Just a real dick. Let him play with Ringo who he adores so must keep him in line. Plus his stuff is crap. Other than the drum song which is all about the only thing ringo lets him play.
 
One of my favorite works of all time!
That being said I was disappointed by the sacd! This mix by Todd on side one on either the lp or cd has always been a bit fatiguing with what always seemed to be lite on the bass and heavy on the upper mid range and lower to mid highs. There is so much looping going on that can really crowd the mix. but I always felt that better eq'ing could have helped the sound but alas it sounds as if there was no attempt by Todd to fix it. Now I found the fatiguing aspects to be even more fatiguing in high rez. The lp's I own did not seem to hurt my brain so much as this sacd but to refresh my memory I will revisit the vinyl this weekend on my new old Denon DP-120 with My Shure V-15 III all dialed in. There should have been a bit of remastering done here Todd!

I think I already stated this in another QQ Thread somewhere, I don’t remember the vinyl but have the original CD’s and latest .flac digital downloads. They all sound thin and bright. Some, more than others. Even my Utopia CD’s are all over the place. It must be the nature of the original recording and no one seems to want to fix this past problem.
 
In the liner notes for Initiation it says that the record is longer than most, so it was recorded quieter and must be turned up louder. So, I was always looking to hear this era of Todd with that issue corrected. However, it's like the whole process was bass-light through to the master (not the pressing master) and there was no other master mix to go back to, because all issues sound like that. I saw Todd in Amsterdam 10 years ago doing Wizard... and it sounded better than I ever heard it, it sounded "right". I never saw why the fuss about that record until then. I wonder if somebody's system was bass-heavy during the process. The first Blue Oyster Cult bugs me like that too.
 
Breaking news on the Rundgren front..... Although it hasn't been officially announced yet, it looks like there will be a Utopia reunion tour this year! Lineup is Todd, Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and Ralph Schuckett.

All I know so far is the following:

1) A venue in Sacramento is advertising a gig with that lineup for June 4th. The following graphic is on the Ticketfly website:

72-og.jpg

2) Although there are no dates listed in Ticketmaster, I did find the photo below on their site. It is clearly very recent.

042ae3f4-613b-40b3-a6b0-1e56b51f8b2f_633251_CUSTOM.jpg

Last week I caught Kasim doing an evening of Utopia music at Daryl Hall's club. It was a great evening. Little did I know that it was a teaser for something bigger to come!
 
That is because it was done by TR who is a whiny baby man. Just a real dick. Let him play with Ringo who he adores so must keep him in line. Plus his stuff is crap. Other than the drum song which is all about the only thing ringo lets him play.
Yes I have always tried to look the other way about Todd's shortcomings, for me the music is what mattered. Something Anything was just ok with just two song that floated my boat. But Wizard and Todd and then Initiation and the Utopia stuff was beyond great!
 
Yes I have always tried to look the other way about Todd's shortcomings, for me the music is what mattered. Something Anything was just ok with just two song that floated my boat. But Wizard and Todd and then Initiation and the Utopia stuff was beyond great!
Anyone who is that spoiled is a pain period and i certainly do not give a rats ass what he has to say at my age. I know when people matter. And his music sucks. Now his wife is something else. She is real and a kick in the tush. Former Tube. I squeezed her knobs and massaged her kitty onstage, caused she asked me to, in front of a couple hundred people, but that"s another story.
 
Something Anything was just ok with just two song that floated my boat. But Wizard and Todd and then Initiation and the Utopia stuff was beyond great!

My copy came in the mail last week and I still haven't played it yet. That's a drag to hear that it's not as good as we might have hoped. An album as adventurous and influential as this certainly deserves to be given a great reissue. Can you imagine what Steven Wilson could do with it? (Steven is a big TR fan. I'm sure he could create an amazing sonic surround experience out of it.) I have listened to the Something/Anything? SACD and thought it was a significant improvement over the old Rhino CD.

And yes, while Something/Anything? had its moments, Wizard was where things started to get really interesting. Seeing him perform the whole album a few years back was amazing. One of the best concerts I've ever seen.
 
Just listened. The album is of course a masterpiece from one of rock's greatest visionaries. However the SACD is not the dynamic tour de force that I would have hoped for. The only other CD pressing that I have to compare it to is the original Rhino CD from the 80's and it is an improvement over that. And while this new version does have some nice moments, overall it lacks punch.

The concurrently released Somthing/Anything? SACD however is significantly richer and fuller sounding. It's also nice that the whole of the 2 LP set is on one SACD. The 90 minute running time did not make this possible on RBCD versions. (For those who also value the CD layer on SACDs, fear not, there is a second CD in the package that has sides three and four!)

Wizard is the album that established the template for the rest of Todd's career. By 1972, he had established himself as a master Carole King/Laura Nyro inspired tunesmith. With Wizard he sent the message that he wouldn't be tied down and that he was curious to try new things. And try new things he would continue to do throughout his very diverse catalog. What did remain consistent throughout the decades though, was that underneath the constant shifts in style there was a unique level of songcraft. Beautiful melodies over original chord progressions topped with thoughtful lyrics. The road to utopia may have been a little bumpy in a few places, but the ride was never boring or predictable!
 
Just listened. The album is of course a masterpiece from one of rock's greatest visionaries. However the SACD is not the dynamic tour de force that I would have hoped for. The only other CD pressing that I have to compare it to is the original Rhino CD from the 80's and it is an improvement over that. And while this new version does have some nice moments, overall it lacks punch.

The concurrently released Somthing/Anything? SACD however is significantly richer and fuller sounding. It's also nice that the whole of the 2 LP set is on one SACD. The 90 minute running time did not make this possible on RBCD versions. (For those who also value the CD layer on SACDs, fear not, there is a second CD in the package that has sides three and four!)

Wizard is the album that established the template for the rest of Todd's career. By 1972, he had established himself as a master Carole King/Laura Nyro inspired tunesmith. With Wizard he sent the message that he wouldn't be tied down and that he was curious to try new things. And try new things he would continue to do throughout his very diverse catalog. What did remain consistent throughout the decades though, was that underneath the constant shifts in style there was a unique level of songcraft. Beautiful melodies over original chord progressions topped with thoughtful lyrics. The road to utopia may have been a little bumpy in a few places, but the ride was never boring or predictable!
I totally agree. I have this SACD, and I think it sounds rather bland at best. It's the only version I have...and I seriously doubt I'll ever play it again. :yikes
 
Back
Top